Representing the ASDL. Grad students Coline Ramee, Anthony Velte, Matthew Gilmartin and, Rahul Rameshbabu were among the 15 students who competed from Tech.

Four graduate students from the AE School's Aerospace Systems Design Laboratory (ASDL) were part of a 15-student Georgia Tech team that placed second in the inaugural Virtual RobotX (VRX) Competition, held in Singapore, December 4-6. Beginning the competition were 17 teams from Asia Australia and the United States; only 11 teams made it to the end.

The VRX competition is an international, university-level competition designed to broaden students' exposure to autonomy and maritime robotic technologies. For the competition, student teams operate their vehicle in a Gazebo-based simulation environment built by Open Robotics and Naval Postgraduate School. Teams are tasked with developing innovative solutions to ensure their virtual USV can perform prescribed tasks in this environment. The challenges include station-keeping, automated docking, and navigating through a series of gates in an obstacle field.

An ASDL team composed of Matthew Gilmartin, Coline Ramee, Rahul Rameshbabu, and Anthony Velte helped develop the code for the Georgia Tech team, which placed second. The team also included several other students in various departments involved through the Marine Robotics club.

“We are proud of the Georgia Tech team for placing in this new competition,” said Regents Professor Dimitri Mavris, the director of the ASDL. “Working together on teams to solve challenging problems is a valuable real-world experience for our students."

For more information about the competition, click here.